1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to pet exercising devices and is particularly directed to apparatus for exercising cats and the like.
2. Prior Art
Domestic animals, especially pets, are provided, by their owners, with food, water, shelter and virtually all of the necessities of life with little or no effort on the part of the animals. In consequence, tend to become lazy and fail to get adequate exercise to keep themselves in good physical condition. This is particularly true of cats who, by nature, tend to sleep much of the time. In the wild, this trait allows the cats to store their energy for the sudden, quick burst of speed and force necessary to make a kill. However, for domestic cats, who have no need to hunt for food, this trait results in obesity and coronary problems, which make the cat sluggish and further aggravate the problem. Dogs are more tractable than cats and can be trained to chase and fetch, to follow a jogging person or slow moving car or to take some other form of exercise. On the contrary, cats are more independent and will only participate in exercise activities if it happens to suit their mood. Thus, a cat may chase a ball rolled across a floor--or it may not. It may, or may not, play with a catnip toy, etc. Consequently, it is particularly difficult to assure that cats get the exercise needed for good health.
Various types of pet exercising devices have been proposed to overcome this problem. Some prior art exercising devices provide rotating arms, mounted on a pylon or the like, and having a collar or harness secured to the arm by a leash, so that an animal wearing the collar or harness will be urged to walk or trot in a circle about the pylon. Horses are regularly exercised in this manner and some dogs are also amenable to this type of exercising device. However, most cats will strongly resist such devices and will dig their claws into the ground or carpet and fight being dragged about by the device with all their strength. This may provide some degree of exercise, but is not conducive to improving the disposition of the cat or enhancing the relationship between the cat and its owner. Other prior art exercising devices suspend a toy, such as a ball or a toy mouse, from a resilient arm member so that, when struck, the toy will bounce about to provide some degree of movement and liveliness which may awake the cat's hunting instincts and may cause it to chase or bat the toy. On the other hand, the toy will normally hang motionless and uninteresting, unless initially struck either by the cat or its owner, and, unless such striking is repeated, the toy will shortly return to its motionless and uninteresting condition. Most cats rapidly lose interest in such devices and, even when the toy is struck, will pay only brief attention to the device. A search in the United States Patent Office has revealed the following references:
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. No. INVENTOR ISSUED ______________________________________ 3,716,029 C. H. Pillsbury, Jr. Feb. 13, 1973 3,665,892 I. W. Kusisto May 30, 1972 4,517,922 J. K. Lind May 21, 1985 4,803,953 M. S. Graves Feb. 14, 1989 ______________________________________
Each of these patents is subject to the limitations discussed above. Thus, none of the prior art pet exercising devices have been entirely satisfactory.